Looking for a way to stream your PC music throughout the house, but don't want to spend a fortune? Eos Wireless has you covered. Sonos, the mainstay of wireless home audio, offers a two-room starter bundle for $1,000, while the Eos Converge can handle three rooms for about $350. Is it as superb as Sonos? Not even close, but this is one of the most affordable, intuitively designed wireless home audio systems we've seen.

The Parts and How it All Works
To enjoy the new Eos Converge line, you need, at the bare minimum, the Eos Converge Transmitter and Receivereach is $99. Not required, but definitely useful, is the Amplified Receiver, which is $149. Having one of each of these products would give you three different music zones in your housetwo of which would be wireless. Shopping for the Eos Converge can get a bit confusing, as the company makes quite a few products that, while not part of the Eos Converge line, are compatible with it. For this review, we'll focus on the three pieces that make the most sense to combine: the Converge Transmitter, Receiver, and Amplified Receiver. As with a Sonos system, if you don't already own them, you'll need to purchase speakers for this system, so the price tag doesn't necessarily tell the whole story. But if you have computer speakers and a stereo system, you've already taken care of two rooms. Eos sells speakers that will work with the Converge system, but we don't recommend themthey are part of what made the original Eos ($300 list, ) offerings weak.

The Eos Converge uses "Gigawave" technologya 2.4 GHz-based wireless stream music from your PC to speakers elsewhere in your home. A typical set-up would have the Transmitter connected to your Mac or PC via USB. Once you've selected it as the main audio output, it's ready to stream audio to your receivers. The Amplified Receiver can be used with passive speakersmeaning those that don't need to be plugged in to an outlet. The non-powered Receiver will require powered speakers (most PC speakers fit this description). You'll also want to connect speakers to the Transmitter, and because the Transmitter is connected to your PC, this is the one room that will not be wireless. The other rooms, however, will receive its streaming signal and, thus, the receivers need to be connected to nothing except power outletsand speakers, of course. You can use up to four receivers per system.

Audio and Streaming Performance
Probably the greatest drawback of simply streaming your computer's output is that you hear everything, everywhere. When your laptop plays an alert sound, you hear it through the Eos receivers along with your music. This isn't the case with Sonos, which uses a different output method to stream your computer's music library. Sonos also comes with a magnificent touch-screen remote control that brings your entire music library is in the palm of your hand. The Eos Converge doesn't even come with a simple, screen-less remote, which is easily the system's grand oversight. Luckily, each receiver has basic controls for playing and pausing, and skipping forward or backward through tracks. The response time for these controls is not quite immediate, but the lag is less than a second typicallynot long enough to be a true annoyance.

When compared directly with the Sonos Starter Bundle 250 ($999 direct, ), we're looking at a less-impressive system, but it also costs $650 less. And if you wanted only two zones with the Converge system, it could be done for even lessbetween $200 and $250, depending on whether you purchase the Amplified Receiver or not, and how many speaker pairs you have. We need to adjust expectations since this is wireless home audio on a budget. But despite the low price, the Converge sounds pretty damn good.

Eos Wireless employs frequency-hopping technology to avoid Wi-Fi, cell phone, and cordless phone interference. During a full two-day test period in a small, ground-floor New York City apartment (in a large building), I never once encountered signal drop out or interference of any kind. Although I couldn't fully test the purported 150-foot wireless range, I experienced no issues at distances up to 70 feetthrough walls and doors. Even better, the receivers provide a little bit of extra low-end oomph to your speakers. Using Audioengine 2 PC speakers ($199 list, ) connected to my laptop, I was able to get much more bass response than usual from the pair. The Amplified Receiver offers a more musical, powerful audio delivery (provided your speakers are up to the task)it is not merely a utility offering juice to passive speaker pairs. Obviously, the un-powered receiver, which works with powered speakers, has far less effect on the audio performance. Without a doubt, the most notable aspect of the audio delivery is the transparency of the stream: there are no audible artifacts, and the system handles bass and super-high frequencies (often the weakest parts of an audio stream) with grace.

The set-up process couldn't be easier, either. The only work you need to do is switching your PC's audio output to the USB-connected Transmitter. Everything else is, literally, plug-and-play.

This doesn't leave us much to discuss but your alternatives. The aforementioned Sonos bundle is, without a doubt, the best multi-room streaming option you can buy, but if its $1,000 price tag is too much, your options get a bit less sexy. Sure, Apple TV ($229 direct, ) is one way to get your music out of iTunes and into your living room, but because it lacks zones or expandability, it isn't truly comparable. Creative's Sound Blaster for iTunes + Receiver ($149.99 direct, ) comes in a bundle, with a remote control, and like the Eos Converge line, it is expandable, but we had occasional signal drop-outs in our tests. If your budget is below $200, though, the SoundBlaster may be worth checking out. With the inclusion of a simple remote, the Eos Converge would be a 4-star product; as it is, it's a simple, graceful wireless audio solution for those looking to preserve sound quality without dropping big bucks.